Following reconstructive surgery to repair an injured arm or leg, the patient is typically faced with the long, arduous and often expensive task of rehabilitating the injured limb.
For example, the typical purpose of reconstructive surgery to the knee is to return stability to the knee and leg. In doing so, the muscles, tendons and ligaments surrounding the knee are either appreciably shortened or tightened by the surgeon to return stability to the knee by holding the knee joint firmly in place, or through atrophy of the injured and surrounding muscles, tendons and ligaments from inactivity during recovery. A typical rehabilitation program following knee surgery has the objective of stretching and strengthening the muscles, tendons and ligaments of the knee and leg. In order to effectively accomplish this objective, the recovering patient must have access to expensive and complicated rehabilitative devices.
However, many people do not have insurance coverage which affords the opportunity to have access to the expensive rehabilitation programs which are necessary to regain complete and uninhibited use of the injured knee and leg. Even people who have insurance which partially covers the treatment of these types of injuries, usually face out-of-pocket expenses, such as the cost of medication, leg braces or professional help.
As a consequence of these burdens, one of the most important steps for adeqate recovery of the injured knee, physical therapy, is usually missed or performed improperly, which leaves the knee and leg weak and unstable and makes them more susceptible to reinjury. Therefore, there is a need for a method of rehabilitating a limb following surgery which is less expensive and more convenient than the methods that are currently available.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a portable physical therapy system which accomplishes the rehabilitation of an injured limb by applying a resistive force about the major joint of the limb which serves to stretch or constrict the injured limb.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a portable physical therapy system which strengthens the lower leg of a user by providing a resistive force against which the lower leg muscles work against through the flexing of the user's foot.